This is the place to learn more about the Jewish Jesus and to take your understanding of the Gospels to a new level.

I started this blog in April of this year (2010) to give Christians a better understanding of Christianity’s Jewish roots. Recognizing that Jesus was a Jew, as was his entire family, disciples, and early followers, as well as virtually all of the authors of the New Testament, it is axiomatic that one cannot understand Christianity without understanding Judaism.

Initially, to give Christians a better understanding of Judaism, I explained Jewish concepts, such as the Messiah, from a Jewish perspective. Later, I did the same for specific themes, such as the Sermon on the Mount and the trial of Jesus. Beginning today, I embark a new approach: I will provide a verse-by-verse commentary on the New Testament (although from time-to-time, I will continue to post on various interesting topics).

Why have I chosen to go this route? Why do a verse-by-verse commentary?

Virtually all of the study bibles available for Christians are Christian-authored, whose understanding of Judaism is incomplete—at best. Hence, I now undertake a (very, very long) project that I hope will enhance Christian understanding of Judaism, the Jewish people, and, hence, Jesus. In the process, I also look forward to fostering better understanding between these two great religions.

To do this I will be using the King James Version. I adopted this translation because it is the best known and is in the public domain: there are no copyright issues using this version. Nonetheless, the King James Version can be difficult to understand. Hence, I will be giving my understanding of the King James Version: I will put the King James Version into modern English (no “thou” and “thee” language) with complete punctuation marks. That is not the key to this online study Bible, however. The heart of this study Bible will be its distinctive Jewish-based commentary.

Jesus and all his early followers were Jewish. If you do not know Judaism, you cannot know Jesus or fully appreciate his teachings. Put another way, no Judaism, no Jesus.

I start with Mark’s Gospel because Mark was almost certainly the earliest of the four Gospels written. I will look forward to your questions and comments.

I hope this blog furthers goodwill among all. I hope you enjoy my blog.

Shalom!

UPDATE (March 6, 2016): I am thrilled to announce the publication of my latest book, Forgiveness Rules. If you have ever been hurt and struggled with whether you need to forgive, this book will give you moral clarity and inner peace. It will change your life.

11/07/2016

In this post, I discuss the how Jesus gets annoyed, seemingly quite easily. I also discuss how he says one thing, but elsewhere says something else, something that is inconsistent with his instant statement. How can this be? An annoyed Messiah? An inconsistent Messiah?

And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and said [to his disciples]: "Why does this generation seek a sign? Verily I say to you: There shall no sign be given to this generation." And he left them, and entering into the ship again departed to the other side.

Mark 8:12-13

Jesus is upset that his disciples seek a "sign" for the coming of the Messiah. Jesus, in apparent annoyance, tells his disciples that this generation will not receive a sign. So there are two points to note:

First, why does Jesus get annoyed? Jews, living under Roman subjugation, were craving a sign that the Messiah would come and overthrow the despotic Roman rule. (As discussed in another post, the Jewish view of the Messiah is not the Christian view. In the Jewish view, the Messiah would be a great general who would usher in a golden age of freedom, not just for the Jewish people, but for all humanity. You can read about that here.) So why get upset at a thoughtful question? Teachers are supposed to have patience. As the Talmud teaches, "An excitable person cannot teach." Yet, this is not the only place that Jesus gets petulant, as we shall see in my next post.

Second, why does Jesus proclaim that "this generation" will not see the coming of the Messiah? How does he know? Elsewhere, Jesus states that no one knows when the Messiah will come; only God knows (Matthew 24:36). In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus is, therefore, clearly not equal to God, something that every Jew, then and now, would acknowledge. Indeed, it is not a coincidence that Matthew was written for Jewish readers while Mark was written for a Gentile audience.

10/31/2016

In this post, we return to a discussion of the Pharisees, who are portrayed as the enemies of Jesus. Of course, this is absurd. Why? Because Jesus himself was a Pharisee.

And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him.

Mark 8:11.

As I have discussed in other posts, which you can read here and here, Jesus of Nazaereth was a Pharisee. Why is this so? Because the theology of Jesus was identical to the theology of the Pharisees: belief in the One God, immortality of the soul, a resurrection of the dead, the coming of the Messiah, repentance, forgiveness, mercy, and Divine Revelation, that included not just the Written Law, but the Oral Law, too.

But . . . but. . . . but you say, the Pharisees argued with Jesus. Indeed! That is what Jews do, argue, as I have also covered in a prior post, which you can read here.

Importantly, in the Synoptic Gospels, (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), the Pharisees are not even mentioned from the time of Jesus' arrest.

So, the Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign of the coming of the Messiah. When, they wanted to know, would the Messiah come?

10/10/2016

In this post I discuss how Jews say a short blessing before eating and then, after eating, a longer blessing. Christians are familiar with saying "grace before meal," but few understand that the Torah (part of what Christians know as the "Old Testament") also requires a blessing after the meal--and the immense benefit gained from reciting these blessings.

In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called over his disciples, and said to them: "I feel sorrow for the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat. If I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way, for many of them came from afar." And his disciples answered him: "How can we feed all of these people? We are in a wilderness here." And he asked them: "How many loaves of bread do we have?" And they said, "Seven." And he told the people to sit down on the ground. and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and broke the bread. And he gave the bread gave to his disciples to hand out to the people, which they did. And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed this, too, and commanded the disciples to also hand the fish out to the people. So they all eat, and were satisfied, and they took up of the broken fish that was left over and it filled seven baskets. And those that had eaten were about four thousand. And he sent them away, back to their homes. And straightway he entered into a ship with his disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanutha [probably on the western shores of Lake Gaililee].

Mark 8:1-10

This is another gathering where food is consumed. I discussed this earlier, in another post, which you can read here.

When Jews eat a meal they say a blessing. When the meal contains bread (made of wheat), the blessing is, "Blessed are you, Lord our God, KIng of the universe, who brings forth the bread from the earth." This is a benediction long in use and, based on the Gospel text, was clearly used by the Jews of Jesus' time.You can read the transliteration from the Hebrew into the English here. If bread is not eaten, but other foods, then a different appropriate blessing is recited. You can read about those blessings here. (If the meal contains bread, one recites the blessing over the bread, but no other blessing for any other type of food. So. it's puzzling to me why Jesus also said a blessing over the fish, too.)

But Jews also say a grace after meals, which is biblically required: "When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which he has given you" (Deuteronomy 8:10). You can read more about grace after meals here and here. Although the Gospel text is silent about the grace recited after meals, it is certain that Jesus, his disciples, and followers also recited these benedictions. Why? Because it something that Jews do! These blessings before and after meals keeps the the continuing presence of God in our minds and, therefore, helps instill a sense of gratitude.

Gratitude is important, for all all people. Why? Because gratutude makes for a happier person. You can't be happy if you're spoiled and lacking in gratitude. There are millions of people in the world who do not have refrigerators and pantries full of food. For those of us who do, grace makes us cognizant for the good fortune that we have.

09/30/2016

In this post, I discuss how Jesus "healed" a man who could not hear and who also had a speech impediment, what was almost certainly a psychosomatic illness.

And they brorught to Jesus one that was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseeched Jesus to put his hand upon him [and heal him]. And Jesus took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said, "Ephphatha," [which is Aramaic and means,] "Be opened." Immediately, the man could hear and he no longer had a speech impediment, and he spoke readily. And Jesus ordered the multitude that saw this that they should tell no man. But the more he ordered them, the more they spoke of what they saw. They were astonished, saying, "He has done all things: he makes the deaf hear, and those who cannot speak, talk.

Mark 7:32-37

This is not the only time that Jesus uses saliva to heal someone. See Mark 8:23 and John 9:6. Why did Jesus have to use his saliva? Why could he not just speak the words of healing?

As I have stated in my bio, I do not believe (and I say this respectfully) that Jesus was the Messiah, let alone Divine. He was a mortal Jewish teacher, but one who had a keen understanding of people. When one also factors in that demonology was never part of Judaism's theology (you can read about that briefly here and in depth here), and there was nothing "magical" about his saliva, it seems to me that Jesus "healed" the man because he showed the man a loving kindness that the man had never before experienced. Strife and distrust cause illness, but loving kindness creates healing. "Love your neighbor as yourself" the Torah commands (Leviticus 19:18). Love, I believe, can be a potent medicine. And lest one think that only medicine (or even food) can cure disease, read this NY Times article: The Island Where People Forget to Die. It's a great read.

09/28/2016

And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.

Mark 7:31

The area known as the Decapolis was comprised of ten cities, all but one of which lie east of the Jordan River and which, in ancient times, was inhabited mainly by pagans. In fact, when Jesus had earlier healed a demoniac (Mark 5:1), the latter was from Gerasa, a city within the Decapolis. You can read about the Decapolis here.

So here is my question: Why does Jesus go to the land of pagans when, as we saw in the prior post, he considers it his mission to preach to and heal the Jews? Why not spend more time with his own people? Not a rhetorical question. This is a sincere question.